Brown: Sixers conditioning is key

PHILADELPHIA — Brett Brown meant it when he said the 76ers’ conditioning is his top priority.

During a 35-minute session with the media Wednesday, Brown said his first thought when accepting the job as Sixers coach in mid-August was fitness. It still is.

“As a professional athlete, it’s your responsibility to get in great shape,” Brown said. “Your skin-fold test (measuring body fat) is this and your weight is this. That’s non-negotiable.”

For a rebuilding team with no scorers, no healthy established perimeter shooters and limited experience, being in peak physical shape is a necessity.

That might be difficult for three big men just two days before the start of training camp at St. Joseph’s University.

Brown said Arnett Moultrie, Lavoy Allen from Pennsbury and Temple, and journeyman Kwame Brown are injured. Moultrie is apparently in a walking boot, while Allen posted a photo of himself Wednesday wearing a compression boot. There was no word on Brown’s issue.

That would leave Spencer Hawes and a bunch of unproven guys at center.

Brown, a former Spurs assistant, is counting on Hawes, Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner to be the Sixers’ leaders. They have led the informal team workouts for the past 2 1/2 weeks.

“I treat them like Timmy (Duncan), Tony (Parker) and Manu (Ginobili of San Antonio),” he said. “I have empowered them.”

As for Turner, who is going into the fourth and final year of his rookie contract, Brown said the former Ohio State star “has a lot of areas that he really can blossom. He is a talent.”

Brown also said, “I think the weight of the city and expectation (as a No. 2 overall pick) at times can drown you. I hope he’s not caring what goes on on Twitter.” And he referred to Turner as “a generic player” who must improve his outside shooting.

He said he’s not committed to adding somebody with experience as a head coach in the league, mainly because “this year’s team is about development.” Still, former Sixers assistant and Pistons coach John Kuester, who gave Brown a job as a graduate assistant in 1983 at Boston University, could be a candidate.

Embattled forward Royce White, who the Sixers acquired in an offseason trade but a source said got the Rockets to pick up his $1.7 million salary, is in Philly and will be at camp.

“He’s slowly getting to a level where we want him to be,” Brown said. “I want to give him our best shot.”

Brown also called rookie free agent Khalif Wyatt from Temple and Norristown “tantalizing” because of his ability to play both guard positions, pass and shoot.

“Is he (the Spurs’ emerging) Gary Neal?” he said before adding that “Khalif’s got to get in great shape. I’m convinced his key is fitness.”